{"id":369054,"date":"2026-07-11T03:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369054\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T03:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:05:11","slug":"austin-releases-proposed-6-6b-budget-with-higher-property-tax-rate-and-social-grant-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369054\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin releases proposed $6.6B budget with higher property tax rate and social grant cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austinites are getting their first look at the city\u2019s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, a $6.6 billion spending plan that would increase the city property tax rate while reducing about $5.1 million in grants for some social service providers as city leaders work to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

City Manager T.C. Broadnax released the proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget Friday, describing it as a plan focused on long-term financial stability. In his budget message, Broadnax said the proposal balances the budget through reductions and reallocations while continuing to invest in services the city says residents value most.<\/p>\n

The proposal uses the voter-approval property tax rate, increasing the city\u2019s tax rate from about 52.4 cents to 57.953 cents per $100 of taxable value. Although the city projects overall taxable property values will decline from last year, the higher tax rate is projected to generate about $1.278 billion in total property tax revenue for operations, maintenance, and debt service.<\/p>\n

According to the city\u2019s Taxpayer Impact Statement, the owner of a median-valued, non-senior homestead would pay an estimated $2,248.15 in city property taxes under the proposal, or about $177 more than the estimated city property tax bill in the current budget. The city notes those figures are estimates and could change once certified appraisal rolls are finalized.<\/p>\n

Residents CBS Austin spoke with had different ideas about where they would like to see city dollars spent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see the budget go to schools as well as making sure that social services are taken care of. I think that there\u2019s always room for improvement and growth there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another resident said she would support paying more in taxes if it benefits the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if this is a popular opinion, but I feel like, you know, I\u2019m happy paying a little more towards taxes if it benefits everyone, the people of Austin, places that we all use. You know, I want everyone to be happy and healthy and have access to things.\u201d<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Austinites conflicted about budget cuts, tax increases ahead of budget proposal release<\/a><\/p>\n

The proposed budget includes about $5.1 million in reductions to grants for social service providers, using what the city calls its Social Services Contract Reduction Strategic Framework.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it would transfer $19.4 million from the Social Services Grants budget to Austin Public Health and Homeless Strategies and Operations to continue funding city-operated emergency shelters, bridge shelters, and domestic violence shelters. The proposal states the transfer results in no net change in total funding.<\/p>\n

Broadnax said the budget uses reductions and reallocations to help keep the city financially stable while continuing to invest in priorities including housing vouchers, rental assistance, increased firefighter overtime, expanded Austin Police recruitment efforts, parks and pool maintenance, library staffing, and security improvements at the Austin Animal Center.<\/p>\n

The proposed budget is not final. Austin City Council will spend the next several weeks reviewing the proposal before voting on a final budget in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austinites are getting their first look at the city\u2019s proposed budget for the next fiscal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-369054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}